From AaronH - 34 Star Wars Legion B2 Battle Droids (170 points)

 This week's entry is 34 B2 Battle Droids from Atomic Mass Games for Star Wars Legion. These are 32mm sculpts, and these are all 3D prints. The B2s have been out of print for several months so the only way to have any at the moment is printing.

AMG released version 2 of the game last summer, though they call it version 2.6. It brought significant changes to the game. I am a big fan of the new version, though thoughts are decidedly mixed on that front across the community. I, however, have not had a bad game with the new rules and I definitely had games that were lost as soon as we set up in the old version.

One of the big changes in this version is that they added squad upgrades to core units. Core units are the tax unit, you are required to take 3 and can have up to 6 (or 8 in one of the droid lists). It used to be that you had a core size, 3 in the case of B2s, and could add a heavy weapon and one additional model. Now the B2s can add 4 B2s instead of 1. This means squads could be up to 8 models max instead of 5. Other units can go up to 10 or even 14 models in the case of B1s. They also raised the army size from 800 to 1000. This change seems to be much more popular as it lets us put more of our toys on the table.

As a result of these changes I've been adding bog standard models to all of my core across my armies. Last year I painted up two units of B2s (here). I needed to add three more models to each of those to make them capable of being maxed out.

Three bog standard B2s for Red and Blue squads.

Full Blue squad with the three new members in front.

Full Red squad. New 3D prints in front.

Next up will be four squads of seven each. I went with seven because I need to print a few more and you can't actually take six fully upgraded squads in an army, so I can always drag an extra from one squad into each of the others for now.

Purple squad. A lot of these prints have bases with terrain molded on.

Silver droid butts. Some of these prints are themed for mountain warfare and have extra gribblies on them.

Baby Blue squad.

Orange squad.

Green squad. This heavy weapon is different than the rest. There are two options but I, honestly, don't care so if there's a special weapon in the squad it's whatever upgrade is on the card. This one looks cool though.

Close up of the unit leader. He has gold around the colored section. It shows up better without the glare from the photo lights. You can see the large special weapon here. I painted them with color shifting paints and they vary between this purple and a sort of green depending on what angle you view them from.

All of the models painted for this week.

My entire B2 collection with the previously painted squads in the back.

34 32mm models x 7pts each = 238  points.

 

Sylvain: Wow, this is truly an unstoppable tide of metal, all shiny and well coordinated. I like your Tatooine bases, very evocative of the Star Wars universe, as well as your coding. I'm sure players won't be able to stop their urge to say "pew pew" when engaged in combat. Excellent paint job!

 

Regarding your points, the rules of the Challenge do not have a specific category for 32mm, so I will count them as 28mm (rather than 40mm) at 5 points each. 170 is still a nice bunch of points.

 

 

 

 

From AaronH - Star Wars Legion and final post (83 pts)

 Today's post is more CIS for Star Wars Legion. My youngest son is interested in playing Legion and he has chosen CIS. These models represent the final models to be painted for his first army list. With these completed he can show up for his first game with a fully painted army.

Ten models to complete an army.

This  is two more B2s to fill out the units to five each, a Dwarf Spider droid with all weapon options, a unit of Magnaguards and Cad Bane.

Magnaguards

The Magnaguards are a great unit in the game. they can only be brought in units of four but they are versatile, have two wounds and like to melee with force users.

The lightning on their staves was trickier than I expected but came out OK in the end.

The two B2s are the same as the last two units, just filling them out.

The Dwarf Spider droid is a great model in game. It's a vehicle so it blocks line of sight. It can take a variety of weapons and AI options, and it can explode when it gets near death and deal damage to all units within range 1 of it.

It looks like it  might be fiddly to build but it is actually really easy. Much easier than B1s.

This model is also nice because you can leave it's dome un-glued and switch out the weapons. Everything is tight enough to stay together until you want to switch it out.

All weapon options. Flamer, ion cannon and laser cannon.

The flamer is my favorite looking weapon option.

The final model is Cad Bane, the infamous bounty hunter. He's a powerful and tricksy operative who can wreck havoc if you're not careful.

This is my last entry for this year's challenge. I'm heading to the UK for work, and Rhys will be following next week for a week's vacation. I'd like to thank everyone for how welcoming you have been to him. It has meant the world to him for me to read your comments on his posts. I feel like his painting has improved as he takes in your advice. Your kindness has been remarkable.

That's ten models for the week, nine foot and 1 vehicle.

9 x 32mm x 7 pts = 63 pts

1 x 32mm Vehicle x 20 pts (it's small) = 20 pts

Total = 83 pts

Nice work here Aaron, I feel like you've personally accounted for a moderate-size hobby store's worth of Star Wars Legion stuff. It was great to have you in the Challenge and these droids look great, I especially like the Dwarf Spider Droid. Cad Bane is a polarizing character but you've done him justice here with a nice paint job. Safe travels to the UK and thanks to you and Rhys for participating this year!

Dallas 

From AaronH: Star Wars Legion (294 points)

There was no entry last week because Rhys and I were off to play in a Star Wars Legion skirmish tournament on plains east of Denver. We had fun but do not really like that format. We really went to support the locals as they are trying to get a Legion group going out there.

This week's entry will be a bit larger than usual as a result. First off is Clan Wren for the rebels. 

Clan Wren. All three of them.

Rebel Mandos are not a great unit. Clan Wren is a bit better, two wounds each and some slightly elevated rules, but they just can't punch in the same weight class as the Shadow Collective Mandos.

They are devilishly fast and get a little bit better if Sabine Wren is on the table as a hero.

Action shot.

I have two more units on the table. I'm not sure they'll be done before the end of the Challenge though.

Next up are two CIS repair droids. These are an upgrade to B1s and are annoying since there's almost nothing worse than finally killing a multi-wound model and then having these guys pop it back up.

I tried to do the lens like it's reflecting the dark ground and the lighter sky.

These are small models, half the size of a B1. They tend to get lost in the crowd so I painted them green to help them stand out a bit.

They are holding B1 heads.

Today's third unit is a Super Tactical Droid, two T Series droids, two Viper recon droids and one heal-bot, which is just as annoying as the repair droids but for the few meat bags in the army.

Leaders and more unit upgrades

The T Series Tactical Droids can be a unit leader or a commander in the faction. They have the unit colors for two units, but I can pull them out as needed.

The rear view. Droids don't panic easily so not something their enemies see much of.

The Super Tactical Droid is a really good commander. There are two named droids and a generic but all three are worth taking. They support the army rather than doing the fighting themselves.

My skills aren't up to the intricate designs on these but I approximated them with gold paint.

Next up are more B1s. These bring me to six units, which is the most you can take outside of a special battle force. I'm done with these for now, though I may have some more upgrades to add in.

First up is dark green squad. I call them this because their unit markings are, dark green.

There are twelve B1s in this unit. I ran out of unit leaders with these two batches, though I have the B1s for the rank in file in the final two units that the battle force can take.

These guys are light green and there are only  eleven of them. The unit leader's arm was broken off and I just couldn't get it to stick, so now it's been shot off and is resting at his feet.

Arm shot off; still holding his blaster.

Really glad to see the back of these models and move on.

The last unit is two squads of B2s. I'll need to add one more model to each of these since my son is running them at five droids.

B2s are not much better than B1s. They definitely need a little love from the devs in the next update to the game. Still, I have two units so I might as well get them painted.

I need to paint eight more models and my younger son can show up for his first game at the game store next week with a fully painted army. 

Points wise this is a pretty big entry.

3 x 32mm Clan Wren x 7pts = 21 pts

2 x 32mm PK Droids x 7 pts = 14 pts

6 x 32mm Commanders and add-ons x 7 pts = 42 pts

23 x 32mm B1s x 7 pts = 161 pts

8 x 32mm B2s x 7 pts = 56 pts 

Total = 294 pts

Wow Aaron this points bomb should get the gang fired up for Star Wars: Legion! Great production here, I particularly like the Clan Wren group, they look really nice.

A 294-point tally for you!

Dallas

From AaronH: More B1s (77 pts)

 This week is more B1s for Star Wars Legion. This unit gives me four squads. This is the Orange squad.

More B1s. Same as the other ones.

This is another squad with the basic upgrades. I've got two repair droids almost done for the red and blue squads, which will exhaust that particular upgrade in my army.

With the current army lists and battle forces I can't see taking more than three units of these, but the max is eight so I might as well paint them since I have them. Next week I'll also be working on some B2s and other command options. I need to expand out the options for the list.

Commander, rocket and E5s upgrade.

The OOM unit upgrade lets droids pass orders at longer range (1-2 instead of 1). The security droid lets them lose AI attack. In Legion the droids have an AI keyword that they have to execute if they don't start the turn with an order. It's limiting and frustrating so this droid lets them avoid that.

OOM-Series battle droid aand B1 Security Droid. It's hard to tell but the OOM has a yellow head.

For points this is eleven B1s x 7 points = 77 points.

Roger roger! You can never have too many battle droids, nice work and 77 points for you!

Dallas 

From AaronH - B1 Battle Droids (154 pts)

 This entry is two'ish units of B1 battle droids for Atomic Mass Games' Star Wars Legion. they are a mixture of store bought and 3D prints. There is a blue unit, a red unit and two lone droids for a future purple unit.

22 Battle droids. Their only virtue is mass.

B1s are the worst unit in Star Wars Legion. They are also the cheapest. Think of them as the skeleton infantry of an undead army. They can carry some useful upgrades, both in the form of healing units and special weapons.

The back view. You can tell the 3D prints by the smaller backpacks.

The box set comes with a unit leader, which is the key model in the game for movement and shooting. It also comes with a missile launcher and a larger gun that throws a few extra/better dice. To get the other weapons and additional droids (healing) you have to buy upgrade boxes that come in sets of four. I have bought one of those for the weapons set so this blue squad is the only one that will have all of the options the unit can take.

The two on the left come with the unit. The two on the right are an upgrade box.

Sniper rifle and radiation cannon

Most weapons in the game shoot to range 3. The B1s will always lose a range three gun fight. The sniper cannon adds some much needed stand off range so they can plink at enemy units before they charge gloriously to their destruction. 

The radiation cannon is short range, only range 2, but it allows them to throw 2 red dice, which are the best shooting dice. It also poisons the unit it hits, killing an extra model at the end of the turn.

As a rule I don't like to paint different colors on the models or bases to tell units apart. Sadly, the rules and tactics of this faction mean they have to be standing right next to each other and you have to have a quick, obvious way to tell them apart on the table. I bit the bullet and made this unit blue, the second one red, and two B1s for a third unit purple.

Here you can see the 3D print and the company model side by side. En masse they tend to just look the same on the table, but up close the print is noticeably less sharp and detailed. I was willing to accept this because these are terrible models to assemble, coming as two legs, two arms a body and a head. their attachment points are tiny. If I only needed a couple it would be fine but since you can take up to 64 of them there was just no way my sanity would have survived that.

3D print on the left.

I've now painted units for each of the armies I'm interested in playing during this challenge. Rhys has all of the clones and, while I have the models, I'm just not able to find an empire list I like yet. I'll keep rotating through armies to make some progress towards having a painted total great enough to game with for CIS and Shadow Collective.

These 22 models will give me 110 154 points.

Thank you.

Great work on these droids Aaron, I'm sorry I didn't get to posting them last Saturday. I can see why you mixed in the 3D prints though, assembling them sounds like a pain and the official Legion models ain't cheap either. But your 3D prints blend in quite well and your paintwork looks good, I like the pop of colour to differentiate the squads.

As Legion infantry are rated at 7 points each that's 154 points for you!

Dallas